Tracey Martin was juggling a lot lately: packing up her belongings, selling her house with her husband and wrapping up the last bits of her job at the Chamber. She’s one of at least three executive directors to have walked in and out the Chamber’s door over the last few years. Her last day was the end of August.
The Chamber executive director said the job appealed to her last year because it was part time. She retired from teaching a few months before starting this position.
But, once she stepped into the executive director role, she realized this is more than just a part time job, which is partly why it has had a high turnover rate.
“There was no time for what an executive director actually should be doing,” Martin said. “It was a lot. It’s too much for one person. I actually said I will never do this again, because it was so overwhelming.”
She said, in fact, it was really challenging.
“I can’t do this job part time (from) 10 to 4 p.m. I’m not getting anywhere,” Martin said. “I didn’t know if it was just because I was new or not used to doing it.”
She said it was highly disorganized, and so she felt like it was best to start from scratch early on in her position.
Reorganizing
Part of that involved making binders that explain how each topic and event the Chamber covers works.
So she and a new board looked at the Chamber’s mission, which is to support local membership and foster economic growth. They went from there.
“Taking that and looking at, ‘Okay, does this activity, or where I’m putting my energy meet that? If it doesn’t, then I shouldn’t be doing it,” Martin said. “So we started looking at that and trying to eliminate things that didn’t make sense.”
The reason why the Chamber took on so much dates farther back in time
Ellen Jellum, the Chamber’s vice president, said the reason why the Chamber took on so much dates back much farther than she can remember, or even speak for.
“My impression is that as volunteers that previously ran events ran out of time and energy to give, it ended up landing on the executive director,” she said. “They all just kind of limped along as best they could, and especially with COVID, and even years preceding that, I believe.”
Martin said finances were another challenge. The Chamber lost $25,000 in annual city funding and was providing many services for free. That meant cutting back on costly events, like the pumpkin patch.
“A lot of activities were always in the hole,” she said. “We can’t do that anymore. How can we change these activities to either break even or make money or eliminate it if it’s not helping our businesses. And so that’s why, first thing to go is the pumpkin patch. It doesn’t do anything for our businesses.”
“Those are the kinds of things I should be focusing on”
Instead, the Chamber began working with groups like Spruce Root, a nonprofit business developer in the region, to bring in business training classes.
“Those are the kinds of things I should be focusing on, not creating events for the community,” Martin said.
One huge event the Chamber has been known to take on is the town’s Fourth of July celebration. Wrangell’s Fourth of July is spread out for a whole week, with derby games, egg and hotdog tossing. And obviously, the fireworks are a huge bang. She said the Chamber will still put on the fireworks show and the Royalty competition, which is where participants raise money for the Chamber. This year, the Royalty raised $30,000 for the Chamber. But Martin said future Fourth of Julys will look different. She said other entities in town will take on many of the responsibilities for the holiday.
“The Fourth of July will no longer be the Chamber running it,” she said. “It used to be the community running it, and I don’t know when it ended up being the Chamber, but we’re gifting it back. So, the Chamber will still run the Royalty and do the booth map.”
The annual themed dinner will continue on
Although Martin said her position at the Chamber was incredibly challenging, there were still a couple fun moments, like the annual dinner. This year was 007 themed, with casino games.
“People really had a good time and enjoyed that,” she said. “I think the theme we picked for next year, I guess I’ll let the cat out of the bag, is masquerade.”
Martin noted the importance of the next person to be a good collaborator and multitasker.
“You definitely have to be organized and on your toes,” she said. “I’m trying to have everything written down so that it’s easier.”
Martin’s done a lot of organizing over the past year for the Chamber, and because of that she said she feels positive about the Chamber’s direction. That includes making the executive director position more manageable and less overwhelming. She also said all of the work she put in was made possible because of the volunteers who come in and help.
“We’re trying to make the actual responsibilities reflect the listed hours.”
Jellum, with the Chamber board, said the search for a new executive director is going well. They’ve been holding out for the right fit and finally narrowed down the pool of top candidates.
She said she hopes the next executive director will have an easier time with the position, since Martin and the board significantly slashed away certain responsibilities.
“It’s listed, I believe technically, as a part time position, but it seemed like it was requiring full time plus effort,” Jellum said. “So we’re trying to make the actual responsibilities reflect the listed hours and the pay and all that.”
She said she would love to see the pay increase, but the economy is in a tough spot right now and there’s only so much the Chamber can offer.
But, she said the Chamber’s board has been reorganizing how everything runs, and focusing more on what Chamber of Commerces do – focusing on local businesses.
